Leicester City's 5,000/1 title: how the impossible happened

Start with where they actually were. In early April 2015, Leicester were bottom of the Premier League — 20th, seven points from safety. They were not quoted for the title at all. The only market that mattered for them was relegation, and bookmakers had them at 1/20 to go down.

They did not go down. Nigel Pearson's side won seven of their last nine games and finished 14th on 41 points — eleven wins, eight draws, nineteen defeats. Survival, nothing more.

Claudio Ranieri arrived in the summer of 2015. On 8 August 2015, the opening day of the new season, Sky Bet priced Leicester at 5,000/1 to win the title. William Hill held 25 bets at that price, with stakes ranging from five pence sterling to £20. Ladbrokes took 47 bets at 5,000/1 before the price shortened in September.

Then Leicester started winning.

By 6 October the price had moved to 1,500/1. On 21 November, after they went top of the league, it fell to 100/1. On 24 January it was 8/1. On 6 February they were 7/4 favourites. On 12 March they were odds-on at 10/11.

The title was confirmed on Monday 2 May 2016. Leicester had drawn 1-1 at Manchester United the day before. Tottenham led 2-0 at Chelsea. Chelsea came back to draw 2-2. The squad watched together at Jamie Vardy's house in Melton Mowbray.

The final table told the full story. Leicester finished on 81 points — 23 wins, 12 draws, three defeats, 68 goals scored, 36 conceded. Ten points clear of Arsenal on 71. They averaged 42.43% possession across the season, the lowest recorded for any Premier League title-winning side.

The 41-point finish in 2014-15 to 81 points in 2015-16 is the second-largest points improvement in Premier League history.

Vardy scored 24 league goals and contributed six assists. He scored in eleven consecutive Premier League matches — a competition record. Riyad Mahrez scored 17 and assisted 11, and was named PFA Players' Player of the Year, the first African player to win the award. Harry Kane won the Golden Boot on 25 goals.

On 7 May 2016, Leicester beat Everton 3-1 at the King Power Stadium. Andrea Bocelli sang before kick-off. Captain Wes Morgan lifted the trophy. It was the club's first top-flight title in 132 years.

The bookmakers settled their accounts. William Hill paid out £3m in total, of which £2.2m was a net loss — the largest odds payout in the company's history. The firm subsequently announced it would no longer offer title odds longer than 1,000/1. Ladbrokes stated a payout of around £3m, which it described as its biggest ante-post payout in 130 years. One Sky Bet customer collected £108,000 from a single 5,000/1 bet.

In March 2015 they were 1/20 to be relegated. On 2 May 2016 they were champions.